Why to Use Google App Engine?

Google is the market leader of the Internet revolution. Apart from having the best search engine in the world the company has launched a plethora of products that allow developers to build robust websites. One such product that has become extremely popular with the developers globally is the Google App Engine. This allows you to build web applications on the same stable and extendable that power Google’s applications. You will be able to use run these apps on Google’s data centers and make use of its massive infrastructure.

The Google App Engine’s development environment make use of Java and Python which most developers are familiar with and provides a powerful and robust set of APIs to create custom apps that are highly secure and independent from other apps running in the cloud. This platform is absolutely free and you can sign up using your Google account. If you need additional resources you can always purchase them. It is easy to scale up as your data storage and traffic needs grows with time. On such occasions you can enable billing and allocate your budget according to your needs. Apart from these advantages Google also offers you a platform to market these apps among millions of users in the world and make large sums of money.

What makes the App Engine so attractive to the developers is the fact that you can easily write the application code, test it on your local system and upload it to Google at the click of a button or with a few lines of command script. This does away with the traditional concept of worrying about the system administration approving your apps or launching a new version of the application. You won’t need to share your database or keep buying machines thus adding to the cost. Google takes care of all the maintenance and allows developers to focus on the features of the application.

Advantages of Using Google App Engine

Scalability

This is one of the deciding factors for the success of any application. When you are using Google App Engine you will make use of technologies such as BigTable and GFS which are used by Google to create its own apps. The App Engine has an automatic scaling feature that requires you to merely write the application code and Google takes care of testing. The App Engine can scale to meet your requirements irrespective of the number of users or the amount of data that the application stores thus ensuring you complete stability.

Reliability and Performance

When we talk about reliability and performance of the web applications we need to keep in mind the unmatched reputation of Google as one of the leading brand names in the world cutting across Industries. Over the last decade and half the company has set new benchmarks with the reliability and excellent performance of its products and services. The Google App Engine offers you the same performance and reliability as any other product of Google.

Security Infrastructure

Google has perhaps the most secured Internet infrastructure across the world. The code and the application data are store in highly secured servers that prevent any kind of unauthorized access to them. With hundreds of server spread across the globe you can trust your app to be usable to your customers whenever you want it. The privacy and security policies of Google shall apply to all the applications that are built using this infrastructure.

Disadvantages of Google App Engine

Like all other products and applications Google App Engines does have some flaws and disadvantages. If you are considering using this platform for creating web application you should also be aware of the downsides too. Let us take a look at some of these.

You Are At Google’s Mercy

When you are developing an app using Google’s App Engine you are at their complete mercy. Think about a situation where all of Google’s servers are down, your application will also have to face the music. If you are creating apps that are required by customers to immediate tasks such as book tickets etc. your brand name is likely to take a hit in such cases. With web applications that run on Google’s infrastructure you won’t even have an alternative in case of such situations.

Violation of Policies

When you upload an application on Google you have to agree to a long page of privacy policies. How many developers do actually read these policies and even if they read how many can really make out from what they read. Even if unknowingly you violate on of the policies of Google your application stands to be banned. In the past many users have unknowingly violated the polices of Google AdSense and had to lose all their revenue at one go. Here your entire application stands to be banned if you violate any of the policies.

Forget Porting

Application developers have all these while been used to porting their applications between different platforms. But with Google App Engine you can forget porting as most of the infrastructure that you are going to use is proprietary and thus all your data will be locked into BigTable that isn’t how traditional relational databases worked and allows you to port the application from one technology to another. So if you plan to opt out of Google in the future you will have to create your application from the scratch.

It isn’t Free

Though Google is advertising App Engine as a free platform it isn’t free if you are planning to develop an advanced application as you will need to purchase resources. Also you will be at the complete mercy of Google’s future pricing plans if you join the network.

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All in all Google App Engine is a completely in the world of web application development that offers many advantages to the developers like enjoying its massive infrastructure. Despite some of the downsides that we have mentioned Google App Engines is gaining huge popularity among the developers in the world.

About Author

Rimple works with PixelCrayons, an IT consultancy company. PixelCrayons helps its partners meet their long-term goals, not just the short-term ones. With services such as CMS and eCommerce development, mobile apps development the company aims at giving true value to the investment of its clients. You may get in touch with Pixelcrayons if you are planning to hire experienced Android and iPhone developers.